The richest tech billionaires in the world

According to the latest ranking of the world’s richest people, published on Wednesday, Bill Gates still tops the list with a fortune of $75bn, while the net worth of Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg has leapt higher in the past year.

Gates is the richest man in the world for the third year running, despite being US$4,2bn (about R66bn) poorer than this time last year. In rand terms, Gates is now a trillionaire.

The Microsoft co-founder has now been in the number one spot for three consecutive years, according to the 2016 ranking of the world’s richest people published by Forbes.

Gates’s fortune of $75bn (about R1,2 trillion) has ensured he continues to head the world’s rich list.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has moved up to the number five position, with a net worth of $45,2bn.

Other billionaires who made their fortunes from technology and who are in the top 10 are Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg (in sixth place, up dramatically from 16th a year ago, and now worth $44,6bn) and Oracle chairman Larry Ellison (seventh with $43,6bn).